The present invention relates generally to the field of amusement devices and, more specifically, to board type games which can be used to simulate the perils and pleasures of drilling for oil.
The recent energy crises and petroleum shortages have raised public interest in oil exploration and its risks and benefits. A number of "drilling for oil" games have been suggested which are completely different than the game herein presented. G. Dolansky (U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,721) provides an oil exploration game in which rotating cams are used to variously control simulated oil drilling equipment. C. Deaton (U.S. Pat. No. 2,299,803) provides a game in which blocks, hidden from view, are shaken to shift their position between two boards and when a playing piece is blindly inserted through openings in a top board blockages or lacks of blockages are scored. Priska et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,075) provides a wildcat oil well drilling game in which the insertion of oil well rig playing pieces is limited by the topography of a rotatable stepped platform hidden beneath the top playing board.